Space Monkey
by Wormtail96
Summary: Minka doesn't like talking her past with the other pets, nor the occasional nightmares which leave her solitary from her friends. Little do the others know, she keeps quiet about these things for a very good reason. She soon decides it's time to tell them her story, though what she has to tell them will prove a lot more shocking and horrifying than they could have ever expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Littlest Pet Shop**

**Space Monkey**

**Chapter One**

She awoke with a jolt, her heavy, vein-riddled eyes shooting wide open. She felt nothing but numbness and her vision was nothing but a foggy grey blur. They would return soon, like they always did.

First, the numbness went away. She felt herself sprawled against the hard and icy metal surface, sending goose pimples all over her body and making her pink fur stand up on end. A horrible ache persisted within her skull, as if she were on the rebound of a terrible headache, and her body felt wracked with dozens of sore spots – bruises. Something was wrapped tight around her ankle – her id tag. Next, her sight returned. It was dark, nothing new there, but she was able to peer through the darkness to see the shiny metal bars, as well as the faint shades of pink that were her hair fallen over her face. In no time, she regained her sense of the smells around her; she could smell old and fresh blood, urine, excrement, putrid chemicals and the sharp, sour scent of fear. Lastly, her hearing returned. In all honesty, she wished she had gone deaf by now, if just so she could no longer hear the morbid hymn of blood curdling screaming emanating from outside the dark room she was in. The humans, all they could hear was primal shrieking, but she could understand every word they were saying.

_"Let me out! Please! I can't stand it any longer!"_

_"I'm gonna kill you-you, you monsters!"_

_"Why!? Why!? WHY!?"_

Their shrieks mixed into one voice. A voice composed of millions of mourning screams. They all came to a height at the blinding white flash and horrific 'BZZZT' sound that immediately followed, which caused her heavy body to jolt up from her back.

She steadied herself on all fours, her mangled tail somehow still managing to give her balance. She fumbled around the darkness of her unbearably small space, unable to go more than a few feet without stumbling or bumping hard into the bars. It was maddening; nowhere to stretch, nowhere to climb, nowhere to swing! Such confined space rendered her to scuttle around the dirty floor and curled up like some wretched, dirty insect.

Her mind put back together that this was not just some small dark room, but a cage. _Her_cage. Yes, her teeny, tiny box in a giant tower of hundreds. The one they had made her permanent home. Her home, prison and tomb.

She suddenly let out a long, pained groan when she recognized the parchedness of her throat; it was drier than the smack dab middle of the Sahara desert. She desperately needed a drink or she was going to pass out from dehydration.

Looking around, she spotted the reflection of light in the corner of the cage; it was the water from her bottle. She crawled towards it, searching for the spout and when she found it, suckled on it like she used to her mother. It was room temperature and stale, but it was still water and she was more than thankful for it.

Her massive thirst now quenched brought her some relief, albeit short-lived when suddenly, she doubled over, grasping her tiny belly, which was letting off a horrendous growl befitting the largest, mightiest beast. Putting her hands to her side, she was shocked by just extremely skinny she had become; she could literally run her fingers up and down her ribs like a xylophone. How long had it been since she had last eaten? Since they had filled her bowl with food? She began to panic. What if they had not? What was she going to do then?!

By now, her eyes had got back used to the darkness and she quickly located her bowl. She was in luck; the humans had refilled it with a mountain of nuts and berries. Like the water, they were by no means fresh, but in her situation, she could not afford to be picky and she ravaged through them, occasionally stopping to chew.

"Minka?"

She stopped, her mouth stuffed like a chipmunk's with a little bit of drool dripping out her mouth. She swallowed them all and cocked her ear, trying to confirm what she thought she just heard.

"Minka!"

She recognized the weak, faint voice immediately and run over to the right side of her cage, grasping the ice cold bars with her sore, bruised hands. She made out the outline of someone in a cage next to her.

"Bubbles? Bubbles, is that you?"

BZZZT! The preceding bright flash to that horrible sound and subsequent screams of pain confirmed her worst fears. She gasped and held her hands to her mouth at what she saw. A dark green spider monkey sat before her, passed the two walls of bars that separated them. He looked so weak and disheveled, like he had been put through a wringer, literally. Parts of his matted green fur has been shaved off, namely around the head, where she could see large, horrific, infected-looking stitches.

"I thought we'd lost you for good," he rasped with effort, his voice barely over a whisper.

"Bubbles... what did they do to you?" was all she could muster to ask through her fingers.

He slowly raised his hand to his head and winced. He looked in so much excruciating pain, far more than her. "They... they did something to my head. I don't know what, but I remember big... metal—Gaaah!" He wailed, grumbling like a paper bag to his knees, still holding his head, which was now pulsating. "Ughhh! It doesn't matter. I'll be alright. How do _you _feel?"

That was Bubbles. Always putting her first.

"Horrible," she whimpered, her legs starting to give way to the pain. The pain. Just thinking about it made it worse tenfold. Rubbing her head did nothing, so all she could do was wait and pray it would go on its own. "I feel so horrible, Bubbles. What happened to me?"

"I... don't know," he said, his voice filling with guilt. "They took you away three days ago and... when they brought you back, I thought... I thought you were dead." Her eyes widened in horror, but he added earnestly, "B-But you were just asleep. Th-they kept taking you away and bringing you back for days, don't you remember anything?"

She closed her eyes and did her best to recall the events of the last three days, but as hard as she tried, the pain made it too difficult for her to concentrate. The best she could draw up were fading memories of being carried roughly around in the chilling air, passing random ear-piercing screams and the horrid feeling of a long tube being forced down her throat. She was not sure she wanted to remember more.

"No," she finally admitted miserably, burying her dirty face in her hands. "I can't remember anything, just... _pain." _Monkeys physically could not cry, but they could still feel, and if it were possible at this moment, she would be on the verge of tears. What terrible things had those monsters done to her this time? Had they shocked her? Force-fed her? Injected her? What?!

"Minka, it's okay," Bubbles tried to reassure her and gingerly maneuvered his hand through the bars and into her cage. His arm could not reach far enough to touch her by itself, so she edged forward and allowed him to feel her face. _"It's okay."_

His hand was badly broken. The wrist was covered in deep sores and the fingers were marred with deep cuts and blisters, badly wrapped up in old bandages. Still, the baby soft fleshy fingertips were much welcomed comfort. She took the hand delicately and rubbed it against her cheek, but he quickly withdrew his arm back through the bars.

"I'm sorry..." he was quick to apologize as he held his arm as if it were zapped of life. "But my arm, it—I can't overwork it, I... I'm too weak. I haven't eaten in so, so long."

The terrible state of her friend overwhelmed her entire being with guilt. But she was a quick thinker, and came up with an idea to help him in no time at all.

Crawling back to her bowl, which was still overflowing with food, she grabbed as much food as her hands could carry and took them back to the wall.

"Here," she said, handing a particularly juicy berry to him through the bars. "Take it."

But he shook his head in refusal. "N-No, I can't... it's yours."

"Don't be stupid!" she insisted, practically shoving it into his face. "Take it! You need it more."

Reluctantly, he accepted the gift and munched on it slowly, savouring the sweet juices that brought a small grateful smile to his face, something she was happy to see. One by one, she handed more berries and nuts to him, and he now accepted them with little resistance. Yet in their brief moment of shared happiness, they had not paid to attention to the growing _whirring_outside their cages.

BZZZT! The flash that illuminated their cages was so bright that, for a split second, she thought she had gone blind. Both spider monkeys let out agonizing shrieks as the electrical surge sent them flying from their walls. She had the misfortune of landing directly on the opposite wall, sending the shock all throughout her body.

Landing back on the floor, she curled into a tight little rocking ball, squinching her eyes shut and biting hard on her knuckles. There were still sparks in her eyes from the flash, which was still going on, as well as that dreadful BZZZT! She could not from that little spot without getting shocked. That little, cramped, excruciating spot on the floor.

"I'm... a... space monkey," she chocked through her non-existent tears as she rock back and forth against the floor. "I'm a space monkey, space monkey, space monkey..."

"Vell, vell, mein favourite ist awake."

That voice, that _accent_ coming from _outside_ her cage. It sent a chill down her spine. It was one of _them._ It was the _Needleman!_

_'No',_ her thoughts begged as she pulled her knees up to her face. _'Please, no!'_

The cage door opened and the Needleman's large, gloved open hand reached in for her.

_"N-NO! __**NO!"**_She screamed and she began yanking on her light pink hair. "I'M A SPACE MONKEY!" Overcome with terror and misery, her screams joined the others. Her voice adding to and strengthening the mourning and tragic song of creatures trapped within bared boxed in which they would expire. "SPACE MONKEY! SPACE MONKEY!"

"Time to wake up, little Affe. VAKE UP!" The hand reached her and formed a grasp around her neck and shoulders, tightening and soon enough, shaking her like a rag doll.

**"I'M A SPACE MONKEEEY!"**

"Minka, wake up!"

* * *

Minka Mark awoke with a jolt, her eyes open wide enough they nearly popped out of her skull. She sat up and looked around the area, her chest heaving at a rapid pace and thick bullets of sweat running down her face.

She was no longer in her dark cage, but back in the well-lit Littlest Pet Shop with its bright and welcoming colours and soft carpet and furniture. She was no longer lying against the cold metal floor, but plush white carpet. Bubbles was no longer there, instead she was surrounded by all six of her companions, looking at her as if something was terribly wrong.

Russell Ferguson the orange hedgehog, the one who shook her awake, was the first to say something. "Minka... are you okay?"

"Uhh, I..." She was going to answer, but her heavy breathing and lingering lethargy from just waking up kept her from saying anything, leaving Vinnie Terrio the green gecko to fill the gap.

"Okay?! She was going nuts! You know, cuckoo?" The tactless lizard claimed and he started bugging out his eyeballs and waving his arms about in an attempt to imitate her. It came across more like someone who was having an epileptic fit. "She was all like, _'Nooooo!'_ And all _'Spaaace monkey'_and—" He stopped when Zoe Trent the purple Cavalier King Charles Spaniel swatted him over the back of the head, after which he stared do with a new sense of shame. "Heh, uh... sorry."

"It's okay, Vinnie," the monkey assured him, her breath steadying and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Sunil Nevla the blue mongoose was the one who helped Minka to her feet, telling her in his thick, charming Indian accent, "In all seriousness, Minka, you were really, how you say… 'out there'?"

"I was just… having a bad dream." All their eyes on her made the spider monkey uncomfortable, something she hid poorly with the downcast look on her face and pause in her sentence. "It's not a big deal, though."

"Are you sure?" Penny Ling the white and purple panda asked worriedly, putting a comforting paw around her shoulder. "You were screaming, Minka. We thought something terrible was happening when we found you. We were gonna go get Blyth—"

Shrugging her friend off, the pink spider monkey groaned, with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "I said it's 'no big deal', guys, jeez! What, can't a monkey have bad dreams sometimes?"

Zoe cocked her eyebrow, asking, "Oh, you mean dreams that make you scream so loud, pretty much the whole city can hear?"

By now, Minka was really getting irritated with all the questions. "Look, I'm fine. It was nothing. For crying out loud, can we all just drop it, please?!"

The others finally took that as the sign to back off, which they all did in a hushed chorus of 'sorries' and 'okays'.

"Thank you." Minka let out a heavy sigh and walked off in a huff, before jumping on and off the various pet furniture and out of sight, probably off to her beloved tire swing.

Waiting until she was out of sight and earshot, Pepper Clark the grey and white skunk made vocal her own annoyance.

"Sheesh, sorry for showing we care!" she snarled, whisking her tail and stomping off, muttering under her breath. Zoe harrumphed in agreement and followed after her.

"Yeah, what's her problem?" Vinnie crossed his arms grumpily and rolled his eyes. They all then looked at Russell, their de facto leader if he had the answer.

Being the most level-headed of the group, Russell attempted to rationalize the matter. "Well, you heard her. She said she's 'fine', so I guess we just need to accept that. Let's just give her her space and soon she'll be back to her, err... Minka self."

The remaining pets took this as good enough and dispersed, going back to their daily routines as usual. Still, none of them could shake off their concern of how... un-Minka their normally happy, over-energetic friend acted just now. But they listened to Russell's advice and decided to leave her be for the time being.

Unknownst to them, over by the bird cage that towered high over their miniature, its current occupant was watching them. A large, shiny-feathered crow stood up straight and still as a statue on its perch, fading into the background so well it could easily been mistaken for a shadow or gone completely unnoticed. Its only sign of even being alive was the occasional blink of its shiny black orbs.

The solitary winged creature of the pet shop acted as spectator of its fellow pets from above, keeping his eyes lock of them, just watching and analyzing. Nothing escaped his all-seeing eyes, which right now, followed the pink spider monkey...

* * *

**(A/N) This is the first chapter of my first _Littlest Pet Shop_ fanfic, _Space Monkey_. It's a short, as well as _dark_ origin story for everyone's favourite hyperactive spider monkey artist, Minka Mark, partly inspired by the episode 'Dumb Dumbwaiter'.**

**For those of you who follow me for my My Little Pony fanfiction, do not worry, the next chapter of Maternal Instinct is nearing completion. This new fic will give me a refreshing break from the monotony of just doing one fic.**

**Enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**(a/n) Here's Chapter Two, sorry for the delay.**

* * *

**Littlest Pet Shop**

**Space Monkey**

**Chapter Two**

Minka stood before her canvas, several large open tin can of paint set out on both sides. She stared at the pristine, unmarked surface with an expression devoid of emotion. Her eyes were vacant and glazed over; you would have had to look closely to see any sign of life.

Nothing. No inspiration, image or faintest idea in her head of what she was to paint. Her mind was a blank, just like the canvas. Her right hand was covered in a light blue paint that was drying against her skin and fur, staining the carpet with tiny blue droplets instead of forming her latest masterpiece.

The weather outside did not help lift her creative spirit. Dark clouds completely blocked out the sun and it had been raining heavily all throughout the morning, the large bullets of raindrops beating loudly against the windows. And to think Blythe had to go to school in all this.

As if she were running on autopilot, Minka's hand dipped itself again into the paint can and just threw itself against the canvas. It ran slowly down the smooth fabric surface, leaving behind a messy blue palm print and trail.

She sighed and looked it over. Was this really the best she could come up with? She sat down on the carpet and rubbed her temples with her clean hand, trying to gather her thoughts together.

'_C'mon Minka, you can do this,' _she mentally chastised herself. _'You need to focus, girl. Eat something. Get your brain working.''_

Minka looked around in search of some food that often littered the floor, and spotted a large ripe banana laying there. She licked her lips, grabbed it and ravaged through it, getting more on her face than in her mouth.

When she finished, she felt revitalized, but that snack did little to help her concentration on her artwork. When she looked back at the spoiled canvas, inspiration still felt miles away.

She was just about to give up on it all together and sleep in the tire swing next to her when a sound rang in her ears...

_Bzzzt!_

Her head _snapped_ upward at hearing the familiar sound, and was relieved to see that it was just the overhead light flickering wildly, like there was a furious bee trapped inside. The bulb must have been on its last leg. For some reason, Minka could not stop staring at it, even though it made her uncomfortable.

_BZZZT!_

Minka narrowed her eyelids and cringed. It brought back memories. _Pain. Hunger…_

She slapped the sides of her head. No! She had to ignore it. Block it all out.

She forced herself to look away from it and back on the canvas. That stupid canvas! She could just rip it to pieces at this point, and was probably not far off from doing so when it hit her. Inspiration. That brief, fleeting moment when, in my mind, the image she sought to bring to life came together.

Wasting no time, Minka grabbed her paints, dabbed her hands in them and got to work, painting around the blue palm print. She was not sure exactly what it was she was painting and paid little attention as it gradually took shape, allowing the inspiration to flow naturally down to her fingertips and onto the canvas.

A lot of blue and pink to make up the bulk, some nice splashes of red, a bit of black here and green there. It was all coming together now.

* * *

In another part of the pet shop, the other pets, specifically the gecko, the panda and the mongoose were presently occupied with having their own fun, having brushed off their friend's earlier outburst. These pets were pretty resourceful, making the best of whatever toys and equipment they could find laying about the pet shop. Today's activity was one of their favourites; a good old fashioned game of operating theatre.

"What have we got, Doctor?"

They were all stood over a small, round plastic table on top of which a large rag doll was laid out strait like a real life patient. The pets were dressed up in little light blue outfits meant to represent scrubs and clothes around their mouths to act as procedure masks.

Vinnie inspected the 'patient's' body over, before pulling down his 'mask' and telling them in a faux professional manner, "The symptoms this patient shows lead me to believe that he is suffering from _bonus eruptus_; it's a rare, terrible disorder where the skeleton tries to jump out of the skin."

Penny Ling's paws flew over her mouth. "What do we do, Doctor?"

"We have limited options available to us, the best one being those… those electric pad thingies."

Sunil cocked an eyebrow, asking unimpressed, "The defibrillators?"

"Yeah, those."

"I'm quite sure that's not what they are designed for."

"Who's the doctor here?" Vinnie asked, prodding the mongoose in the chest with a digit lost in an oversized plastic glove. "Now, I'm gonna need a golf cart motor and a thousand volt capacimator, stat!"

"Doctor!" Sunil gasped, going wide-eyed at the idea. "I cannot in good conscience-"

"Gah! Now there's no time, man!" He slapped his forehead in frustration and turned to Penny Ling. "Our one last chance is to cut the patient open and beat the skeleton back in place! Nurse, I need a sterilized scalpel, stat!"

She searched the 'tools' laid out in a neat row on the floor and picked up and gave him a dirty, greasy butter knife.

"Will this do? We got it from a seafood restaurant."

"Close enough."

Vinnie snatched the knife and stabbed it right through the doll's blue overalls and into the stomach. He proceeded to calve it open from the stomach right up to the doll's neck, revealing a large amount of thick cotton wool stuffing.

"I can't see the skeleton with all this cotton in the way!" He climbed onto the 'operating table' and frantically began ripping out the cotton, trying in vain to search for the 'skeleton'. "Where is it? Where is it?! Forget it! Nurse Sunil, gimme the hammer!"

"Only if you stop calling me 'nurse'!"

"It's the correct term! Hammer! Now!"

He reluctantly and unenthusiastically passed the wooden mallet from under the table to him. The gecko raised it over his head and began pounding the now mutilated doll with so much force that anymore and the table would buckle.

* * *

"Russell, have you seen my headset?"

"Wha-? Uh, no, Zoe, I haven't. Sorry."

Russell was not really paying attention as he was too busy jotting down on his clipboard, repeatedly looking up from it at something near the ceiling, then back down at it.

"Well, it has to be around here somewhere," she whined, going to a nearby large pillow and lifting it up but disappointed to find it not there. "I'm trying to practice my newest song here." She looked back at Russell and was annoyed to see he still was not paying any attention. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to take down info on our newest arrival," he replied, looking back up and this time, Zoe followed to see what he was looking at it. It was the bird cage in which that crow remained, still as statue-like as before, not even flinching from its perch.

The Spaniel shuddered at seeing the ominous bird overhead. "Oh. Him." Ever since its owner dropped it off at the pet shop that morning, the other pets preferred to avoid it. It carried a dark, ominous presence about it that made most of the pets prefer to stay away from it and glade that kindness was done for them by its confines to its cage. This was not like Scout, the Siamese cat they assumed to be a spy targeting Mrs Twombly; this pet was creepy enough to send a chill down their collective spines.

"Doesn't talk much, does he?"

"No, he does not." Russell tapped the clipboard irritably with his biro pen. "It certainly doesn't make it easier for me. From what I can gather…" He squinted his eyes, looking down his papers. "I'm sure it's a crow, but gender… can't tell, height… can't tell, likes eating… I think Mrs Twombly's left it a cup of birdseed for it, but I can't see if it's taken any."

She rolled her eyes. "Here's an idea; just try and talk to it. It's called 'conversation'."

"I already did. I didn't get a peep from it. Didn't even look at me."

"Kind of creepy, if you ask me."

He chided her in a cautious, hushed voice, "Quiet, it may hear you—Gah!"

The sound of soft cawing snapped their heads up in the cage's direction. There they saw the crow's head turned to face them, its black orbs staring right through them. You did not have to be a genius to tell it was _not_ friendly.

"Iiii… think I see my headset over there," Zoe fibbed on the spot, spinning on her heels and darting off.

"Yeeeaaah… I guess the inventory could use a third check-up." He tucked the clipboard under his arm and bolted.

The crow watched them both leave with the same, unfaltering stone face as always. It craned forward and pecked away at its bird seed.

"No… No, no, no! We're losing her—BEEEEEP!" Vinnie stopped pounding the doll with the mallet and froze on the table, clenching his teeth and making a high-pitched sound of a flat lining heart monitor. He tossed the mallet aside, threw his arms in the air and let out a mournful shriek, "NOOOOOOOOO! I'VE LOST ANOTHER ONE! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The panda and mongoose looked at each other uneasily out the corner of their eyes as their friend became, to put it lightly, submerged in his role; it was a common occurrence whenever they played operating theatre. It was funny the first few times, but now… it was just creepy.

He began throwing pieces of cotton up in the air, letting them fall back down over him like a flurry of snow. "WHY? WHY?! WHYYY?!"

Sunil took a deep breath and sighed, slowly taking off his blue 'scrubs' and 'mask'. These same games they played were growing tedious. He would not have minded if he was allowed to play the lead role every now and then, but he did not have the guts to try challenge Vinnie for it.

He was about to go off to get something to eat when he saw something that made him freeze.

"M-Minka?"

The others turned and Vinnie jumped when he saw that Minka was indeed standing right there, her fur and skin paling white, drained of blood, shaken, shaking. Her fur was actually covered in stains of red, blue, pink and other colours. They were paints, though one might have thought some of it was blood upon first inspection. Worst of all were her eyes, wide open but they showed little activity. It was like she was in some kind of trance.

"Jeez, Minka, don't sneak up on us like that!" Vinnie chided her, getting down from the 'operating table'.

But Penny Ling was more concerned with the state of her friend's appearance. She threw aside her 'mask' and ran to her side.

"Minka, are you okay?" she put her paws on her friend's bony thin shoulder concerned. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Minka did not respond with anything intelligible but a weak grunt instead. She brushed her friend off and she walked towards the area her friends were playing... no, not walked. Walking needs some kind of will power behind it. What this monkey was doing was just _moving. _

Visibly put off by their friend's silent and creepy demeanour, the boys backed off as she approached them. She stopped at the 'operating table', her glassy eyes rolling up and down as she inspected it with the same feral curiosity like she were back in the rainforest.

It became so quiet you could have heard a pin drop, if not for the muffled sound of rain outside the building. It then came all the more startling when Minka asked them all of a suddenly, "Whatcha been doin'?"

"Uhh, playing... operating theatre?" the gecko answered, looking around at the mess of cotton, utensils and tools they had made. "I mean, if you want, we can start over again, but we're gonna need a new doll."

"_Playing..."_ she mumbled as she put her hands against the plastic table and her attention turned to the now pulverized remains of the doll. Her eyelids twitched at the sight and she bit her lip.

The sounds she tried to repress returned at full force, echoing throughout her tiny skull. So did that foul stench of antiseptic that burned her nostrils and sinuses.

"_Doctor, we cannot get this monkey to hold still!"_

"_Strap it down. If it moves, medicate it."_

"_EEK! EEK EEK EEEEK!"_

"Minka?"

The sound of Sunil's voice broke Minka out of her meditative state and back to the present. She felt a new emotion filling her being, one that was almost foreign to her.

"Is there something—?"

She turned to face with them, speaking to them in a low, shaky, angry voice with an intensifying glare. "You think this is _fun?"_

The other pets suddenly felt themselves intimidated by their friend. Never before had they actually witnessed Minka this _angry; _she could get annoyed and frustrated at the rarest of times, but nothing like _this._

Vinnie gulped, stammered as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, uh…I-It's kind of fun… w-when you, uhh-"

"FUN!?" The spider monkey raised her voice to a shout, climbing onto the table and picked up the doll's head and one of its legs and holding them out at them. "You all think _this_ is FUN!? WELL IT'S NOT!"

"Minka, please, calm down—" Penny Ling begged.

"CALM?! I'll show _you_ calm!"

Sunil, who had been shocked silent for the most part, managed to catch his voice. "It's only a game, Minka," he whimpered, trying to reason with her.

"Ohhh, a game!" Minka sounded like she was caught between yelling and laughing. "Suuure, it's all just a gaaame!" She used her tale to pick up the butter knife Vinnie used to vivisect the doll and impaled it in the 'face'. "Let's just cut their eyes out! Not like it hurts them or anything, cuz it's just a game!" She jumped off the table and practically shoved the head into his face. "Here! Wanna take a turn at your _game,_ Sunil!?"

"Hey! Back off!" Vinnie suddenly appeared between them, meeting her eye-to-eye with their noses nearly touching. He may have been scared by her outburst, but he was not going to let her treat his best friend like that. "What's your problem?! You're acting like a psycho!"

Minka's chest began heaving and veins appeared in her large bright blue eyes. _**"EEK EEEK!"**_ She screeched. In an arc of pink, she unleashed her unfilled nails and swung her hand hard against the gecko's face. The strike had enough force to throw him to the floor in a disoriented green pile.

Sunil gasped horrified and knelt down to help his friend. There were a couple of scratches on his face, but nothing serious. A few inches higher, though, and it would have taken his eye out.

The mongoose looked back up at Minka, not in indignation but sorrow. It was enough to stop her seeing red. She lowered her fists, her eyes widening in horror at seeing the red tint of her friend's blood on the tips of her fingers.

Minka wanted to say something; get down on her knees and say she was sorry a bagillion times, but no words came. It felt like there was this large lump in her throat preventing her from talking.

"_Minka!"_

She spun around in time to see Penny Ling shove her, nearly pushing her over. The panda had the most outraged look on her face she could possibly manage, with beads of tears falling down her fluffy blushing cheeks. The intensity of her very glare filled the spider monkey with shame, like a small child cowering before the anger of their parents.

"How _dare_ you!" she snapped, her voice shaking in a mixture of mortification and fury. "Vinnie's our friend! I can't believe you would do so something so _awful!"_

"P-Penny Ling, I-I—"

Penny Ling did not let her finish, and went to help Vinnie (who cringed painfully as he held the weeping cuts on his face) up and lead him away, turning her nose up in disgust at the simian. Minka stood there, stunned to silence, barely able to fully comprehend what had transpired. She had scratched her friend; she literally had his blood on her hands.

She saw Sunil still there. The swelling lump in her throat prevented her from even trying to defend or excuse herself. He stared at her, still not angry but… ashamed. He shook his head slowly and followed after Penny Ling to attend to his friend.

As her friends abandoned her there in the former play area, Minka felt as if a large ice cube had landed itself in her stomach. She stared at Vinnie's blood on her hands and her bottom lip began trembling.

Feeling herself break down, Minka let out a pained wail and ran off as fast she could, accidentally bumping into the table along the way.

* * *

"Pepper, where is my headset?!"

"How should I know?" The skunk grunted, rummaging through the trunk containing most of her comedic props. Zoe had been on her case about this stupid headset for ten minutes now and it was working her last nerve.

"You took it last time to use in your little stand-up act."

"Yeah, so why would I take it again after how you reacted last time?"

Pepper found the props she was looking for: her groucho glasses and arrow headband. She walked off with them, hoping to practice in solitude, but the Spaniel would not let up and followed her.

"So what? It just disappeared?"

"I dunno," said Pepper, hardly paying attention as they walked in the direction of Minka's tire swing and painting area. "Maybe."

"Is that just a cute way of saying you took it?!" Zoe demanded, her tone becoming accusing.

"Ugh! No!"

"Well? Are you going to help me look for it?"

Pepper had had enough. "Ohhhh nooo! Zoe's lost her headset!" She shouted melodramatically as she waved her paws about. "Calm the cops! Everyone stop with their lives because we need to help Zoe find her oh so _pwecious_ headset!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Pepper! You are the most—" she bumped into her friend, who had all a sudden stopped on the spot. "Pepper? What are you doing?"

Pepper was frozen in front of the canvas that was stood up next to Minka's tire swing. The whole area was a mess of paint stains and turned over furniture, more so than usual.

"My goodness, Minka has really let this place go," Zoe remarked unimpressed, carefully avoiding stepping on a blot of green paint on the carpet. She noticed Pepper still starting wide-eyed, mouth agape at the canvas. "Pepper, what in the world are you... you..." Her voice trailed off as she laid eyes on the masterpiece that adorned the canvas, feeling herself overcome with a sudden chill.

A long, unnerving silence followed. There was nothing but the sound of rain, which did not help to improve the unsettling atmosphere.

Zoe was the first to break out of her stupor.

"... Did _Minka_ make this?"

"Well, who'd ya think?"

"This is... I mean, it's…"

"Wow."

"Yes, that's what I was going to say: wow."

"... I think we need to tell the others."

* * *

**(a/n) If you got what almost the whole 'operating theatre' scene was referencing, you win one internet.**


	3. Important notice

**This is an important notice for all of you who have read and have been following Space Monkey. I have come to the decision that I will be redoing the fanfiction. I am not entirely satisfied with how it's going or how certain things in it have already been done.**

**I just want to clarify that I am not abandoning this fic. I really want to continue with it, but just to start from scratch. Go for it from a different angle, ya know?**

**So for those of you who are Space Monkey fans, please do keep an eye out for this new version. I'll leave the old version up for a while for those of you who still want to read it.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Wormtail96**


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